Improvement in machines for spreading silk



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Machines for Spreding Sifk. 110.141,017.

Patented July 22,187.3.

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Ll--ggrg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

V.rotin sAULT, or soUTE MANCHESTER, co'nnEcTroUT.4

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR SPREADING SILK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14l,017, dated July 22,1873; application led March 13, 1873. A

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN SAULT, of South Manchester, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Machine for Spreading Silk; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

Waste silk has long been utilized by dividing it by suitable means into short separate bers of a few inches in length, and subsequently drawing these bers in slivers, in a manner analogous to the drawing of flax and hemp. The object of my invention is to properly supply such waste silk to the drawing rolls with less labor than heretofore. Instead of whipping or beating the ber by hand and supplying it to the feeding apron in small handfulls, requiring careful arrangement to match the ends of the ber properly together and to distribute the mass over the breadth of the feeding-apron, my invention requires simply that the masses of ber, as they come 'from the dressing-room in the ordinary condition, Viz., in what are technically termed books,77 shall be laid directly, by a single op. eration, on a supplementary feeding-apron.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specication.

Figure 1 is a side elevation, with a few parts represented as broken, to better `show the work beyond. Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all'the gures.

A A are the ordinary f'eedingrolls, which seize the bers and deliver them to the gills or other drawing mechanism, not represented. B B are drums impelled by gearing or other convenient means in the direction of the arrow. C is an endless apron running over these drums in the ordinary manner. All these parts, as also the frame by which they are supported, and the mechanism by which motion is communicated, may be 'of the ordinary construction. A single set, or more, may be used in one machine, as may be preferred. The drawings represent two sets. D D are drums mounted in the position represented, and rotated by gearing or other mechanism in the directions indicated bythe arrows. E is a feeding-apron running over these drums. The ber is represented by Gr. The feedingaprons E are of sufficient length to accommo-V date more than the contents of one book. The contents of the books are simply matched together in the obvious manner, so that the bers lie side by side, and the motion of these cross-feeding aprons E E deposits the ber upon the ordinary feeding-aprons C C with the ber in the right directionthat is to say, the bers lie crosswise on the cross-feeding belts E, and lengthwisel on the common feeding-belt (l. The positions of the rollers D and the lengths of the cross-feed aprons E are arranged as represented, so that one shall feed one ofthe belts C and the other the other belt C. The drnmsD D are both mountedin a frame, M, which is so mounted on the general framing of the machine thatit may be reciprocated longitudinally. Aslow reciprocating motionis given to the frame M and its connections by means of the link m and crank N properly geared to in sure its revolution. O is a rocking-shaft mounted on the framing, as represented. P P are rods extending horizontally and turned up slightly at their ends, as represented. P is 'an arm (or a continuation of one of the same rods) extending in an opposite direction from the rocking-shaft O. R is a link connecting the end of the arm P to the crank U, which is rotated rapidly by gearing or other suitable means. It follows that the rods P P are both vibrated rapidly in the vertical plane. At each down stroke they impinge on the silk ber -on the belts E E and loosen it, so as to make it readily separable, to facilitate its even distribution as it falls upon the belts C C. I I are guides adapted to prevent the bers from falling off of the belts E in undergoing the whipping or loosening operation just described.

I can duplicate the rods P P and give them a great variety of forms and arrangements without materially changing the e'ect of my invention. The extent of the reciprocating movement of the frame M and its contents may be increased or diminished by increasing the range of the crank N, as will be obvious, and the effect of increasing the vibration will be to spread the silk over a wider space on the belts C C. The speed ofthe belts E may be graduated relatively to thel speed of the belt-s G by ordinary means, and the effect will be to supply the silk in greater or less quantities on a given length of the belt C.

Having now fully described my invention, what'I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' 1. In combination with the drawing mechanism A and feeding-apron C, a reciprocating cross-feeding device, substantially as described7 adapted to receive the fiber lying transversely and to deliver it in its proper position upon the ordinary feeding-apron, sub- Witnesses WILLIAM BUTLER, Grills. S. CHENEY. Y 

